Sanford said, “The way the federal government is spending South Carolinian’s money matters. I think there needs to be a debate on where we go next on the huge deficits that are accumulating in Washington.”

The SC GOP sent us a statement in response to Sanford’s announcement. They write:

“This is about Mark Sanford looking to raise his political career from the grave, not him wanting to advance ideas. The simple fact is that South Carolina Republicans overwhelmingly support President Trump and know this vanity project is going absolutely nowhere."

Sanford said he is disappointed in the SC Republican Party’s decision to cancel the primary. “We have a chance every four years to have a debate as a nation on what it means to be a Democrat. What it means to be a Republican. What it means to be an American. We are going to be absent of that debate that is historically important in South Carolina.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Republican Presidential Primaries were canceled in 1984 and 2004. Democratic Presidential Primaries were canceled in 1996 and 2012.

The incumbents those years did not have any challengers.

We received a statement from the South Carolina Democratic Party. They said, “The Republicans are always talking about their love of freedom and democracy, but when it comes to actually holding a democratic election, they are ensuring that there will be no contest for Donald Trump despite his challengers. I would have thought that if they opened it up for anyone it would be the SCGOP’s favorite son Mark Sanford.”